When Richie came to us with his Swedish Pancake recipe, we were a
little stumped. What do Swedes eat? So we got in the car and made a
trip to Andersonville in Chicago.
Andersonville
used to be a totally Swedish neighborhood but it still has a lot of
atmosphere. There's the Swedish American Museum, the Swedish Bakery and
Swedish gift shops.
We, of course, headed right for the food. And we found it at Erickson's Delicatessen, at 5250 N. Clark Street.
Ann-Britt
Nilsson took the time to help us fill out our Swedish breakfast menu.
She explained that a smorgasbord is a table laid with smorgas - little
open-faced sandwiches. You might say they are the Swedish equivalent of
tapas.
Here's a list we found of Swedish delicatessens
in the US, Germany and Denmark. If you can't find the Swedish brown
bread, you can use any other kind of dense, whole grain bread.
{Makes 6 servings}
You'll need:
1 package of Swedish brown bread
12 thin slices of Swedish ham or turkey
Butter
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of mustard
Sprigs of dill or parsley
Tiny dill pickles or capers
Very little adult help
Equipment:
A butter knife
A fancy plate
2 zipper sandwich bags
Kitchen shears or scissors
Smorgas are all about looks. The Swedes like
simple things arranged in a very beautiful manner. So this recipe is
very simple but you can make your smorgas look like art.
Take a piece of bread and butter one side.
Pick each piece of ham by the center as if you were gently pulling a tissue from a box.
Gently lay ham on the buttered bread so it forms a little peak.
Put the mustard and mayonaise into separate zipper bags.
Squeeze the mustard to one corner of the bag and then click off a tiny bit of the corner.
The smaller the opening the narrower the line of mustard coming out will be. Repeat with the mayonnaise.
Now
you can decorate your smorgas by arranging a sprig of dill on top and
adding a dash or two of mustard and a pickle or a couple capers.
Arrange the smorgas on the plate and take them to your smorgasbord.
